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Canaan's Happy Shore/Say, Brothers, Will You Meet Me On Canaan's Happy Shore?/On Canaan's Happy Shore
Traditional Old-Time, Revival Hymn; Origin of Battle Hymn of the Republic
ARTIST: Various versions; Multiple source
SHEET MUSIC: http://books.google.com/books?id=FQ0eGqXAClAC&pg=PA109&dq=%22On+Canaan%27s+Happy+Shore%3F%22&ie=ISO-8859-1&output=html
CATEGORY: Traditional Bluegrass Gospel;
DATE: Circa 1850
RECORDING INFO: On Canaan's Happy Shore/Canaan's Happy Shore
Owens, William A.. Owens, William A. (ed.) / Texas Folk Songs. 2nd edition, SMU Press, Bk (1976/1950), p164 [1930s]
OTHER NAMES: "Say, Brothers, Will You Meet Me On Canaan's Happy Shore?" "Can The Circle Be Unbroken" "Circle Be Unbroken" "Say, Brothers, Will You Meet Me?" "Brothers, Will You Meet Me"
SAME MELODY: "John Brown's Body" "Battle Hymn of the Republic"
RELATED TO: "We'll March Around Jerusalem"
SOURCES: Wiki; Mudcat
NOTES: "Canaan's Happy Shore" also "On Canaan's Happy Shore" or "Say, Brothers, Will You Meet Me?" was a popular traditional revival hymn from the 1850s. The melody of the song was used for "John Brown's Body" and "Battle Hymn of the Republic."
The hymn was well known among both black and white sources and is closely related to the old African-American spiritual, "We'll March Around Jerusalem."
WE'LL MARCH AROUND JERUSALEM.
O brothers, will you meet me
On that delightful shore?
O brethren, will you meet me
Where parting is no more?
And we'll march around Jerusalem,
We'll march around Jerusalem
We'll march around Jerusalem
When we arrive at home.
O sister, will you meet me? etc.
O leader, will you meet me?
O preacher, will you meet me?
Young convert, will you meet me?
Yes, bless the Lord, I'll meet you.
Backslider, will you meet me?
The Civil War; Christmas, 1863; (from the Dec. 26, 1990, Lowell Tribune, page 8)
Some of the U.S. Civil War soldiers, sons of Lake County pioneers, could have witnessed the celebration of Christmas in the southern states after President Abraham Lincoln enforced the final Proclamation of Emancipation in January 1863.
It was understood that Christmas was the grand holiday among the slaves on the southern plantations, and a letter received from Port Royal, Carolina, told about the unusual zest with which the slaves had celebrated that Christmas.
The celebration was at General Drayton's plantation, when at eleven o'clock on Christmas Eve a bell was rung, and at exactly midnight a pine fire was kindled in front of the cabin where the meeting was held. The festival was called "Serenade to Jesus."
One of the three leaders was dressed in a fancy red coat with brass buttons, and he wore white gloves. Their ladies wore turbans made of cotton handkerchiefs. All ages were in attendance, from a child of one to an elder of 90 years.
The first event of the evening was the singing of songs and spirituals that included "Salvation, O Joyful Sound," "Come Humble Sinner, In Whose Breast," "Oh, Poor Sinner," and a Christmas medley of anything the leader could suggest.
The writer in the 1860's marveled at the correctness of their words, though none could read. Their Scripture quotations were also correct and appropriate, with even the Chapter and Verse named.
After the singing, a prayer meeting was held, and when it was mentioned that the soldiers of the north came from their distant home to save them, bringing them "good tidings of great joy," shouts went up that were heard by the Union pickets in the surrounding pine trees.
The letter writer was told by the former slaves that they could quote the Bible so well because they "had ears" and listened well when the preacher gave out his texts, remembered them, and repeated them over and over until they were memorized. "That's the way we poor people learns the Word of God," he was told.
Under a blazing pine torch, the speaking and singing continued until two in the morning when a recess was declared, and all were invited to partake of coffee, purchased with money obtained from the United States soldiers in payment for vegetables and poultry.
After recess, the shouting exercise began, led by a small group which began to beat the time with their feet. Then all formed a circle, jumping and singing to the tune of "Say, Brothers, Will You Meet Me On Canaan's Happy Shore?" This went on until most were exhausted, but never had they celebrated a Christmas Eve under such circumstances -- as free people.
CANAANS HAPPY SHORE-
http://books.google.com/books?id=FQ0eGqXAClAC&pg=PA109&dq=%22On+Canaan%27s+Happy+Shore%3F%22&ie=ISO-8859-1&output=html
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TELL me, brothers, will you meet me ?
Tell me, brothers, will you meet me?
Tell me, brothers, will you meet me,
On Canaan's happy shore ?
CHORUS: Glory, glory, hallelujah
Glory, glory, hallelujah
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Forever, evermore.
2 Yes, by the grace of God, I'll meet you, On Canaan's happy shore.
3 Say, young converts, will you meet me?
On Canaan's happy shore ?
4 Yes, by the grace of God, we'll meet you,
On Canaan's happy shore.
5 Heart-broken sinner, will you meet me?
On Canaan's happy shore?
6 How can a sinner ever meet you?
On Canaan's happy shore ?
7 Jesus will pardon, if you ask him,
In earnest faith and prayer.
8 Then, by the grace of God, I'll meet you,
On Canaan's happy shore.
CANAAN'S HAPPY SHORE- Blackwood's magazine, Volume 101 - Page 312 Literary Criticism - 1867
The Revival hymn-book suggests to young men and women to invite one another to Canaan, which is one way of making services popular:—
Sisters.
"Say, brothers, will you meet us?
Say, brothers, will you meet us ?
Say, brothers, will you meet us,
On Canaan's happy shore ?
Brothers.
By the graee of God we'll meet you !
By the grace of God we'll meet you!
By the grace of God we'll meet you.
Where parting is no more !
Chorus. Glory, glory, hallelujah !
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah
I For ever, evermore!
Bitten.
We, a little band, before Thee, Jesus!
Lord of all, adore Thee ;
Soon we'll follow Thee to glory,
On Canaan's happy shore.
Brothers.
Pilgrims here we are and weary ;
Dark the road has been, and dreary;
Daylight dawns, and brings us near Thee,
To Canaan's happy shore.
Sisters.
When we see the river swelling,
Jesus ! every fear repelling,
Show us then our father's dwelling
On Canaan's happy shore.
Brothers. Thou hast passed on before us;
To Thine image, Lord, restore us.
Death shall never triumph o'er us
On Canaan's happy shore.
Brothers.
Say, sisters, will you meet us, &c.
On Canaan's happy shore ?
Sisters.
By the grace of God we'll meet you, &c.
Where parting is no more,"
Canaan's Happy Shore/Battle Hymn: On Sunday, May 12, 1861, at Fort Warren on George's Island, Boston Harbor, members of the Second Battalion, Boston Light Infantry, and the slowly swelling ranks of the Twelfth Massachusetts gathered on the parade ground for a flag raising ceremony. Soldiers in the Second Battalion, also called the "Tiger" Battalion, had a special surprise prepared for the occasion, a new song based on a revival hymn, "Say, Brothers, Will You Meet Us." After Reverend George Hepworth addressed the new inductees into the Union Army, William J. Martland's Brockton Band struck up the Tiger's tune, the soldiers singing along as best they could:
John Brown's body lies a-moulderin' in the grave.
His soul is marching on!
Since the moment when this controversial tune was first introduced to the world, music historians have been trying to identify the origins of the tune from which this song was derived. At first, Stephen C. Foster seemed a likely candidate for authorship. His song, "Ellen Bayne," bears a striking resemblance to "Say, Brothers," but unfortunately not enough of one to convince most experts in the field of American music history. Another composer had to be found.
The very earliest printings of the "Say, Brothers" verses appeared in 1858. The song was first copyrighted on November 27 of that year by G. S. Scofield in New York City. The following month, the song was printed in Our Monthly Casket, a publication of the Lee Avenue Sunday School in Brooklyn. This, however, does not settle the question of authorship of the song. A slightly earlier version appears in the 1958 printing of Charles Dunbar's Union Harp, published in Cincinnati with the title "Oh, my brothers, will you meet me?"
The process of identification of the actual composer has been further set back by the innumerable illegitimate claims to authorship. Most such claims can be easily dismissed. Frank E. Jerome, for example, wrote that he had written the words for a John Brown song in Leavenworth, Kansas, in June of 1861, one month after the "Tiger" Battalion first performed the song at Fort Warren. He further asserted that the tune he invented was based on the melody to "Run, Tell Aunt Susey," a tune which in no way resembles the "Say, Brothers" hymn. Thomas Brigham Bishop's claim, on the other hand, might be given more serious consideration were it not so absurd. According to his story, in 1858, he wrote verses for a song entitled "He's Gone to Be a Soldier in the Army of the Lord," one of the verses in the Fort Warren version of "John Brown's Body." Supposedly, in 1859, Bishop visited Harper's Ferry after John Brown's raid and wrote new verses to his "Army of the Lord" song, one of which was "John Brown's body lies a moulderin' in the grave." He later claimed to have written the words and music for "Kitty Wells," "Shoo, Fly, Don't Bother Me," and the tune for "When Johnny Comes Marching Home."
Some scholars have also put forth some very silly ideas concerning the origins of the tune. Take, for example, the theories of Boyd B. Stutler. He grew up in West Virginia where the people still sing the old version of the John Brown song: "Say, Brothers, Will You Meet Us?" During his lifetime, he collected everything he could on the tune and its probable origin. But he also collected a lot of bad information that couldn't be verified. According to Stutler, the "Say, Brothers" tune came from Sweden, and was invented some time before the year 1700. The original verses were supposed to be "a drinking song relating the misadventures of a sailor in Limping Lotta's saloon...." He further claims that the tune became a hymn when Charles Wesley, one of the founders of the Methodist Church, heard it in the streets of London. While music historian James J. Fuld was attempting to confirm Stutler's claim, he got in contact with some musicologists in Sweden and discovered that the tune, which they call "Broder Viljen I Ga Med Oss," made its first appearance in 1875, ten years after the Civil War!!! Fuld also stated that no tune similar to the John Brown song had ever been discovered among the many hymns written by Charles Wesley.
Wesley did frequently gather material from the strangest of sources to turn into hymn tunes. The most infamous story concerning this has to do with a song about Nancy Dawson, a girl who was a famous dancer during the reign of George II. According to the historical gossip mill, Wesley was holding one of his religious conversion meetings when some soldiers tried to break up the party by singing the Nancy Dawson Country Dance:
Of all the girls in our town,
The black, the fair, the red, the brown,
That dance and prance it up and down,
There's none like Nancy Dawson,
Her easy mein, her shape so neat,
She foots, she trips, she looks so sweet,
Her ev'ry motion's so complete,
I die for Nancy Dawson.
Wesley, not to be outdone, improvised a set of verses for the song on the spot:
Listed into the cause of sin
Why should a good be evil
Music, alas, too long has been
Pressed to obey the devil;
Drunken or lewd or light the lay
Flowed to the soul's undoing,
Widened and strewn with flowers the way
Down to eternal ruin.
He quickly taught the verses to his flock and put the soldiers completely at bay. The tune for the Nancy Dawson song is, of course, not the one used for John Brown, but a slightly more complex version of "Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush."
A far more bizarre, though equally inaccurate, theory for the origin of the tune was published in a semi-ancient volume of arcane musical lore entitled History of American Music, edited by William Hubbard. This dusty tome contains the following paragraph:
Lieutenant Chandler, in writing of Sherman's March to the Sea, tells that when the troops were halted at Shady Dale, Georgia, the regimental band played 'John Brown's Body,' whereupon a number of negro girls coming from houses supposed to have been deserted, formed a circle around the band, and in a solemn and dignified manner danced to the tune. The negro girls, with faces grave and demeanor characteristic of having performed a ceremony of religious tenor, retired to their cabins. It was learned from the older negroes that this air, without any particular words to it, had long been known among them as the 'wedding tune.' They considered it a sort of voodoo air, which held within its strains a mysterious hold upon the young colored women, who had been taught that unless they danced when they heard it played they would be doomed to a life of spinsterhood.
"John Brown's Body" was originally a "voodoo air"?!! Such a notion can be highly seductive. One easily imagines an old African shaman, enslaved on a Georgia plantation, saying to his followers that they would become free if they offered their white owners the gift of a song. The song had to be their "Wedding Dance" with new words which, when sung, would slowly work their way into the thoughts and hearts of the white people until all the slaves of the South would be free. Through this magic song, a dead abolitionist, John Brown, was brought back to life (zombie fashion?), and a mighty army marched to this tune, bringing freedom to the long-suffering Africans.
An actual account of the Shady Dale incident, however, suggests a different interpretation of this story. On December 14, 1864, Michael R. Dresbach of Minnesota wrote to his wife: "At Shady Dale a large plantation about 35 miles West of Milledgeville there was 15 young Wenches came out and danced for every Regiment that passed the Brigade Band playing wile Each Brigade passed and the next one in turn taking its place. The way the[y] hoed down was caution and extremely ludicrous." There is no indication that the dancing girls of Shady Dale were performing rituals based on African superstitions. Neither is there anything to suggest that they were doing anything more than just entertaining the troops and celebrating their own liberation. As for Lt. Chandler, his name does not appear on the long lists of individuals writing personal narratives of Sherman's March to the Sea. The story of the African origin of "John Brown's Body" appears to be a misinterpretation of real events.
A far better claim for authorship was put forth in the late 19th century by a modest insurance salesman, William Steffe of Philadelphia. In 1885, Richard J. Hinton, one of John Brown's biographers, wrote to Steffe asking about the circumstances of the writing of the original song. Steffe's four replies are contained in the archives of the Kansas State Historical Society in Topeka.
On December 11th, 1885, Steffe wrote: "...though I never claimed any notoriety in music I want to prove by the best evidence the origin of the music of the popular song. Those who prompted me to write it are all 'gathered to their fathers' most of those who sang Say Brothers will you meet us-- are 'beyond the river'...." In his second and third letters, mailed more than a year later, Steffe stated that he sent a copy of the song to Hinton, but that since the copy was not received, it must have gotten lost in the mail. Steffe said he had trouble remembering the circumstances of the writing and was apparently in contact with others in Philadelphia who were present and could have testified that Steffe wrote the song. But Steffe never gave Hinton any verification from these other persons. In the last letter dated March 4, 1887, Steffe finally told the whole story of the writing of the song. He was asked to write it in 1855 or 56 for the Good Will Engine Company of Philadelphia. They used it as a song of welcome for the visiting Liberty Fire Company of Baltimore. The original verse for the song was "Say, Bummers, Will You Meet Us?" Someone else converted the "Say, Bummers" verse into the hymn "Say, Brothers, Will You Meet Us." He thought he might be able to identify that person, but was never able to do so. He also wrote that he had visited Boston during the Civil War while carrying dispatches from General Butler to Governor Andrew. While there, he attended a review of the "Tiger" Battalion. The "Tigers" sang "John Brown's Body," and, afterwards, Steffe told them he had originated the tune.
Steffe's modest claims are much easier to deal with than the bombastic claims of Bishop. First, William Steffe does not claim to have originated the "Say, Brothers" version, only the tune from which it was derived. Second, his claim does not collide, as does Bishop's, with the story of the creation of "John Brown's Body" at Fort Warren in the spring of 1861. But although Steffe's assertion that he created the tune is the best ever put forward, the evidence of the claim is still anecdotal and inconclusive. Who really wrote the tune that was used for "John Brown's Body" and later for Julia Ward Howe's "Battle Hymn of the Republic"? Perhaps we will never know for sure.
SAY, BROTHERS Sheet Music: http://digital.library.cornell.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=newe;cc=newe;rgn=full%20text;idno=newe0007-4;didno=newe0007-4;view=image;seq=00380;node=newe0007-4%3A1
SAY, BROTHERS- The Revivalist, No. 173, p. 95. From American Negro Folk Songs, 1928, Newman L. White, 1965 reprint, Appendix, p. 434-435.
Say, brothers, will you meet us?
Say, brothers, will you meet us?
On Canaan's happy shore?
Say, sisters, will you meet us, etc.
By the grace of God we'll meet you
Where parting is no more;
That will be a happy meeting
On Canaan's happy shore.
Jesus lives and reigns forever,
On Canaan's happy shore.
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Forever, evermore!
Say, Brother, Will You Meet Us?
(No. 202 in "Spiritual Songs of Early America" by George Pullen Jackson)
Say, Brother, will you meet us?
Say, Brother, will you meet us?
Say, Brother, will you meet us?
On Canaan's happy shore.
Glory, glory hallelujah,
Glory, glory hallelujah,
Glory, glory hallelujah,
As we go marching on.
Say, Sister, will you meet us? ....
By the grace of God we'll meet you, ....
That will be a happy meeting,.....
Jesus lives and reigns forever,....
Glory, glory hallelujah....
Forever, evermore.
Here's another version.
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Say Brothers Will We Meet You
Say brothers will you meet us on Canaan's happy shore,
Say brothers will you meet us on Canaan's happy shore,
When the day of Judgement comes?
Glory, glory hallelujah,
Glory, glory hallelujah,
Glory, glory hallelujah,
When the day of Judgement comes?
George Pullen Jackson notes:
"This ["Say Brothers"] will be recognized as the tune which Julia Ward Howe used for the chorus of the 'Battle Hymn of the Republic'. It is still popular in the above form [as "Say Brothers"] in negro churches of the South." (Spiritual Folk-Songs of Early America, p. 207)
He presents, in addition, a Negro spiritual version of "Say Brothers" in his White and Negro Spirituals (1944; Da Capo, 1975, p. 179), with this comment: "Recorded by the present author as sung May 21, 1933, in Zema Hill's Primitive Baptist Church, Nashville, Tennessee. Earlier variants are in White's Fisk Jubilee Songs of 1872, pages 14 and 140." (p. 179); the tune is practically the same.
The ol'-time religion it is good enough for me,
The ol'-time religion it is good enough for me,
The ol'-time religion it is good enough for me
As we go marching home.
In the Print Bibliography at Patriotic Melodies (Library of Congress) there is Katherine Little Bakeless's Glory, hallelujah! The story of the Battle hymn of the republic (Philadelphia and New York: J. B. Lippincott Company, 1944). The author, however, does not believe Steffe composed the tune, saying that:
This hymn ["Say, Brothers, Will you Meet Us?"] may be found in an old hymn book of 1860, called the Sabbath School Bell, but no author's name is given. There is the acknowledgment that it was taken from the "'LEE AVENUE CASKET.' By permission," and "arranged" by Frank H. Lummus.
[part of score quoted]
This "arrangement," which uses a more even, calm rhythm (introduced by the words), does not ask for the rousing march tempo that swings along John Brown's Body.
Except for this story, Steffe's name seems to have been forgotten, for there appears to be no record of his having written any other tunes. This hymn is supposed to have appeared in a hymn book called The Lee Avenue Collection, Part 2, No. 208, compiled by Jeremiah Johnson, Jr., "about" 1858, and to have been first printed in The Lee Avenue Sunday School Casket, Vol. 1, No. 152, "before" 1858.
Ellen Jane Lorenz, in her Glory, Hallelujah!: The Story of the Campmeeting Spiritual (Abingdon, 1978, p. 121), writes (underline added):
Say, brothers, will you meet us illustrates the singability of the campmeeting choruses; it is the campmeeting chorus most parodied, from the time of its first creation up to the present. ... L.A. Banks relates its story in his Immortal Songs of Camp and Field [1898]. His first meeting with the song was in Charleston in 1859, with a performance soon after at the YMCA of Albany, N.Y. (But the present study reveals a publication in Songs of Zion, 1851.) Banks says, "It has been claimed that the Millerites [Adventists] used the tune to a hymn, 'We'll see the angels coming through the old church yard (3 times) / Shouting through the air / Glory, glory, hallelujah.'"
Banks says, "It has since been claimed that the Millerites [Adventists], in 1843, used the same tune to a hymn, one verse of which is as follows,-- 'We'll see the angels coming / Through the old churchyards [(3 times)*] / Shouting through the air / Glory, glory, hallelujah!'"
According to James J. Fuld (The Book of World-Famous Music, 5th ed., 2000, p. 132):
The written record begins in 1857-1858. On Dec. 19, 1857, there was a copyright entry by Charles Dunbar, Camp Meeting Harp and Revival Chorister. Though no copy of a book with this title has been found, a book entitled The Union Harp and Revival Chorister, with the collection selected and arranged by Charles Dunbar, and a statement that it was published in Cincinnati in 1858, has been found; and it contains at page 264 the music and words of "My Brother Will You Meet Me." The opening words are "Say my brother will you meet me." The music of the Glory Hallelujah chorus is present, but not the words. No copyright entry was made for this book in 1858, although Dunbar copyrighted several other books during that year and copyrighted the second edition of The Union Harp and Revival Chorister on April 30, 1859.
Interesting broadside at American Memory- "John Brown's Original Marching Song," melody "Brothers, Will You Meet Me." Johnson, publisher, Phila., n. d.
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